Improvement in bee-efldjtse



c. DECKER;

l Beg H ive. N No. 83,263. f Patented om. 2o, i868.

QWz-va 'l may gfx A tti @dwindeay'w dem itin. mefiw/ CHARLES DECKER, OFNEW MICHIGAN, ILLINOIS. Letters Patent. 1Y0. 83,263, dated October` 20,1868.

IMPROVEMENT IN BEE-HD'SE.

The Schedule referred to in these 4Letters Patent and making part of thesame.

To all whom it may concern l Be it known that I, CHARLES DECKER, of NewMichigan, in the county of Livingston, and State of Illinois, haveinvented a new and improved Bee-House;

'being had t the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecication.

This invention relates to a new and improved bee' house, and it consistsin the means employed for suspending the comb-frames in the house, ashereinafter fully shown and described, whereby the frames may be tted orsuspended within the house and removed therefrom with the greatestfacility.

In the accompanying sheet'of drawings,

Figure 1 is a vertical section of my invention, taken in the line w x,iig. 2.

Figure 2, a horizontal section of the same, taken in the line y y, iig.1.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

Arepresents the beehouse,which may be constructed of any suitabledimensions, and divided into compart- `ments a If,"by a partition, o.

I prefer to construct the house about twelve feet long, eight4 feetWide, and about six feet in height, and to lath and plaster the sameupon the inside.

These compartments should bea trifle wider than the 'comb-frames B, andto thesdes of the compartment c,

about two-thirds the height thereof from the bottom, there are nailed,or otherwise secured, horizontal strips d d, one to each side.

The upper cross-slats c of the comb-frames B have their ends projectingbeyond the sides to admit of the ends of the slats resting upon thelstrips d (l, as shown clearly in iig. l, the lower ends of the framesbeing a short distance above the bottom of the bee-house, as shownclearly in g. l.

By this means, any suitable number of comb-frames may be suspendedwithin the compartment a, and, if desired, ordinary`bee-hives, '1), may.be placed above them, and supported upon slats h, as shown in thedrawings.

h is a wide slat, or board, placed above the combframes in the bee-houseto guide the bees from the entrance g to the hive D.

I design to employ this hive in transferring the new swarms of bees tothe bee-house. It is not, therefore, permanently fixed within the house,butpmay be removed, when desired. Y

In the compartment b there are secured two horizontal strips, eX eX.

These strips have a transverse position in the compartment b, and arenotched at equal distances apart to receive the projecting ends of theupper-cross slats fof the comb-frames E.

' This arrangement is simply a modification of the one first described.

The bee-houseisprovidedwithdoors, f fx, through which the bee-entrancesg g are cut. By this arrangement, the bees are `perfectly wellprotected, both in summer and winter, and the combframes irendered veryaccessible for inspection and the removal of honey.

I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent-'- The bee-house,constructed as described, anddivided into compartments a. b, by thecentral partition c, each compartment adapted to receive in its lowerpart the suspended comb-frames B E, above which the ordinary hive D isplaced, supported on slats, h, and communieating with the entrance g bymeans of the board h', as herein shown and described.

CHARLES DECKER.

Witnesses:

ALBERT D. WARD, ANDREW J. SONGER.

